The UK Theme, the medley of patriotic tunes which for the past 33 years has launched each day's broadcasting on Radio 4, has been unfortunate in its supporters: Simon Heffer, though he admits he is never awake to hear it; Austin Mitchell; Jeremy Paxman; Keith Waterhouse; Andrew Roberts. Where is Yasmin Alibhai-Brown when you need her? The fact that the UK Theme seems to be backed mainly by middle-aged men of a romantic Tory stamp who think it's been downhill all the way since about 1952 makes it easier for the BBC to go ahead with its plan to scrap the late Fritz Spiegl's tender tribute to the country that gave him refuge from the Nazis.

The issue has become a cause celebre in certain sections of the media and especially for the Daily Telegraph, which yesterday gave prominent coverage to a small but noisy demonstration outside Broadcasting House by Hefferistas and, in an editorial, called on Radio 4's controller, Mark Damazer, to reverse his decision to replace Spiegl's medley with a "pacy news briefing". A record of the UK Theme, produced by Mike Flowers (pictured) -briefly famous for his kitsch version of Wonderwall by Oasis - has been greeted with delight, and is already being talked of as a potential number one. Advance sales in Caterham are said to be phenomenal.

I have only knowingly heard the UK Theme once. It struck me as a perfectly serviceable pulling together of a truly lovely set of tunes - Early One Morning, Rule Britannia, Danny Boy, Annie Laurie, What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?, Men of Harlech, Scotland the Brave, Greensleeves. A little glutinous for some tastes, but certainly preferable to a "pacy news briefing". It sounds a message of unity in our fissiparous times (Gordon Brown backs it on those grounds), threads together ballads that thrum with history, and makes you feel pleasingly smug for having hauled yourself out of bed at 5.30am. Heffer, for once, may be right. A controller who wants to axe these five minutes of innocent pleasure while allowing Jim Naughtie and Sarah Montagu to ramble on for three hours has surely got his priorities wrong.